team discussion Liverpool FC [2] - Page 10

Jake I would've said yes, he's just one of those players. I got him in the 2nd season and he's flying on the left.

Half-way through the 2nd season, topped my Champions League group, a 4-2 victory over Villarreal sneding us top. Lokomotiv Moscow would join us in the Knockout Round, PSV went into the Europa League. We've also drawn Sporting in the Knockout Stage, so that should be the Quarter Finals for us. We've made it as far as the Carling Cup Semi Final where we'll pay Man Utd. The winner will face West Brom or Stoke in the Final so our first silverware is very much on. We're 3rd in the league, 11 points off United who're top, although City have 2 games in hand and will go 3 points above them if they win them both. About to start our FA Cup campaign against Ipswich.

Decided I'm going to sell Jonathan dos Santos and Jay Spearing. Had Norwich bid £7million for dos Santos, a brilliant deal considering we got him on a free last January, Spearing is likely to go on loan to Burnley. Looking into selling Henderson in the summer, already called up Shelvey and Suso to replace JDS and Spearing and would probably bring up Adryan if I sell Hendo, although win Gerrard aging it could be one too many. Will probably sell Skrtel in the summer as well and bring up Holscher, a new kid I've just bought from Schalke. Might also sell Enrique and Johnson in the summer to make room for Robinson and Flanagan. WIll be having Kelly, Schennikov and Coates move into the starting XI. Also will probably not sign Adebayor permanently, despite him being awesome so far, Erick Torres or Yaya Sanogo instead.

quote Severance

Liverpool FC
2012/13

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AFTER achieving 4th place last season our objective was to simply retain that top 4 status. We were given a £27million budget to do so, with most of my signings being youth as I looked to turn Liverpool to the best place for youngsters.

Spoiler:Transfers 2012/13


Completely got rid of the free transfers with the exception of Aquilani. I wanted to get rid of the deadwood and the aging players and bring in younger players who're just as good. Downing would've stayed but I couldn't pass up Lucas Moura for that money. You can also ignore the loan of Fanchone, he left almost instantly when I saw I could get Schennikov permanently. Adebayor came in while the younger players were still improving and was brilliant with Suarez. Also very pleased with Schelotto who was very good when played.

CARLING CUP

The lads done well, a good star with a win over Spurs, then got our revenge over Watford. The youngsters came in and dominated Notts County setting up the Semi Final tie against United. We battered them at Anfield and then had Sean McGinty to thank after his sending off changed the game at Old Trafford. It meant my first final and first chance of silverware against Stoke. Our strongest team was fielded and we played them off the park.



FA CUP


Very disappointed, especially as we beat them in the league 5-0 2 games previously. We didn't play our strongest team then and didn't here. We still hammered them but couldn't find the net. The eventual goalscorer was a CD we had signed 4 days previously.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE


We done brilliantly in our return to the Champions League. We were unlucky in both PSV games in a relatively easy group which we topped. Then a rather simple Last-16 tie against Sporting which we romped before half a challenge against Porto in the Quarters. In the end we were played off the park at the Nou Camp, definitely not good enough.

PREMIER LEAGUE


We had a pretty decent first half of the season. The defeats to Everton and West Brom weren't ideal, as weren't the 2 draws but it put us in good shape at the half-way stage.



I was happy with 4th at the minute. We were right on the heels of Spurs, although Everton were closing in. We were also still with a shot of winning the title.



2nd half of the season was much worse. Defeats to Stoke and Southampton were not good enough, while letting Everton do the double over us was definitely a dark point. We were fortunate that teams were taking a lot of points off each other which meant out top 4 chances were still there.



So in the end a rather good season; Top 4 and a trophy. City ended up running away with the league, Arsenal hit some great form towards the end of the season while the teams below us really struggled for consistency. In Europe then we would go into the CL via Best Placed Play-Off again while Everton and Chelsea retained Europa League. Spurs were back in after a season exile, the big shock being Championship side Bristol City beating WBA in the FA Cup final and will be playing Europa League from there next season.

PLAYERS

The partnership of Adebayor and Suarez was massively productive, with a combined goals and assists of 91. Suarez impressed me more, bagging 18 goals and a massive 25 assists, Adebayor finished as our top goalscorer with 25 goals. Wingers Lucas Moura, Ibrahim Afellay and Matias Ezequiel Schelotto all shone; Lucas managed 12 goals and 14 assists before picking up an injury in March, exactly the same as Afellay. Schelotto didn't play as many games and still managed 9 goals, 9 assists. At the back Martin Skrtel was an absolute rock, Jose Enrique was fantastic as well but is still looking for his first Liverpool goal. 

Lucas Leiva had the best pass completion of 87% (The same as Suso but he only played in 11 games) and made most tackles per game. Lucas Moura made the most dribbles per game while Danny Wilson could boast a 100% shot accuracy in his 16 games, although he didn't score any. Besides him both Yaya Sanogo and Adebayor had 54%, although Adebayor played in considerably more games, beating Sanogo's 19 with 43. Adebayor finished as the top goalscorer with 25, while Suarez managed the most assists and MoM's with 25 and 10 respectively.

In terms of awards, Luis Suarez finished runner-up to Gareth Bale in Players' Player of the Year, while Lucas Moura won Player's Young Player. Matias Ezequiel Schelotto was voted as the best signing of the season costing us nothing, while our £5million departure of Charlie Adam appeared to be a masterstroke as he was considered the 2nd worst signing. The Fans' Player Of The Year went to José Enrique.

Finally, an SS of probably our 3 best youngsters, have extremely high hopes for the first 2.
Spoiler:Alexander Holscher - CD


Spoiler:Sofiane Herida - ST


Spoiler:Pim Zandbergen - ST

We're not doing to badly. We drawn Lille in the Best Placed Play-Off and won 4-1 agg. Drawn Real Madrid, Rangers and Panathinaikos in the CL so should qualify, although we lost to Rangers 1-0 at Ibrox, clearly a mistake to underestimate them. Only made 4 signings; 1 is a kid from PSG for free, also signed a striker who was released by Madrid and beat United to him. Also spent £20million on Pastore and £25million on Papadopoulos as well as selling Enrique to Juventus (£16.25million), and Afellay and Skrtel to Spurs (£15million & £9.25million). Decided to give Coates, Schennikov, Flanagan, Robinson and Shelvey more game time this season, we're currently 3rd in the league after 4 games, lost once to Spurs very disappointingly.

So far I'd have to say we're doing pretty well.